Elvis Presley's career in his first two years with RCA qualifies him as a major star.  But to become "The King" much more had to happen.  First, he needed to be "king" of something.  That "something" had barely existed prior to Elvis's explosion on the music chart in 1956.  Elvis Presley did not invent rock and roll – it would be hard to give absolute credit for its invention to anybody.  It certainly did exist prior to 1956.  But it existed on the periphery of the music world, viewed as "race" music, viewed as an inconsequential fad.  After two years of Elvis, record labels were signing rock and roll performers as fast as they could discover them.  Rock and roll was beginning to dominate the charts and Elvis Presley was the unchallenged leader of the movement.

There is no doubt that rock and roll existed before Elvis made his first recording, but there is some debate as to what the first "rock and roll" record was.  Some would date it back to 1947 when Wynonie Harris covered a Roy Brown song "Good Rocking Tonight."  Others would point to 1951 when Jackie Brenston recorded his song, "Rocket 88" for Sam Phillips in Memphis.  Brenston had joined Ike Turner's band, the Kings of Rhythm" and Phillips had "Rocket 88" credited to Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats when the record was distributed by Chess records in Chicago.  Ike Turner was not named on the label and he would later say he didn't consider "Rocket 88" rock and roll, but more "boogie woogie with an up feeling."  Sam Phillips did claim it as the first rock and roll record as it reached #1 on the R & B chart. 

Many point to Bill Haley's "Rock Around the Clock" as the first rock and roll record.  It certainly met with more popular success than any of its predecessors. Bill Haley and The Saddlemen had been playing mostly country swing music, but when they covered "Rocket 88" things changed.  They became Bill Haley and The Comets and moved more towards an R & B sound with a heavier use of drums and were eventually signed by Decca records.  In May of 1954, Decca released "Thirteen Women (And Only One Man in Town" with the B-side "Rock Around the Clock."  It peaked at #23.  Then MGM chose "Rock Around the Clock" to be played over the opening credits to its 1955 movie, "Blackboard Jungle."  When the movie hit the theaters, rock and roll blasted from the screen and teenagers all over the country had discovered an anthem of rebellion.  The song reached #1 on the Billboard pop chart and stayed there for eight weeks and was #2 on Billboard's end of year rankings for 1955.

There are other rock and roll records that preceded Elvis Presley's RCA releases.   Chuck Berry had a top ten entry with "Maybelline" in 1955.  "Ain't That A Shame" by Fats Domino reached #10 on the pop chart in 1955.  If you follow the doo-wop thread of rock and roll there's "Earth Angel" by The Penguins that reached #8 on the Billboard Best Seller list on February 19th, 1955 (It might have done better, but The Crew-Cuts cover version also achieved a top ten ranking.); "Speedo," was a #17 entry by The Cadillacs in 1955; and The Platters had "The Great Pretender" at #1 on February 18, 1956, before "Heartbreak Hotel" had even made the chart.

So what was there about Elvis Presley that was so different? First of all, there was the music. The practice of pop performers "covering" an R & B version of a song frequented the charts in the mid 1950's.  Pat Boone got his start in 1955 covering songs like Fats Domino's "Ain't That a Shame."  The covers were usually cleaned up versions of the originals.  Sometimes the actual words were changed to make them more acceptable to the main stream audience.  For example, Etta James recorded "The Wallflower" in 1955 – it became popularly known as "Roll With Me Henry" as an answer song to "Work With Me Annie," a Hank Ballard record from 1954.  The Etta James release was a #1 R&B record.  Georgia Gibbs released "Dance With Me Henry" in 1955 and the song, without the sexually suggestive lyric "roll with me" of the original went to #1 on the Jukebox chart.  In some cases, the cover was very close to the original.  In 1954, the Crew Cuts had a #1 record with "Sh-Boom," which was cover of The Chord's version which peaked at #9.  The Chords' recording was a little more up-tempo and bluesy – especially in the bass line at the break:  "Every time I look at you, something is on my mind.  If you'd do what I want you to baby we'd be so fine."  Also, more in line with the R&B style, The Chords probably sang that line with a bit of a leer while The Crew Cuts would make it a very innocent expression.  Another aspect of many cover versions was the grammar and enunciation of the words.  Pat Boone had a little difficulty covering Little Richard's "Tutti Fruiti," even dealing with the title words.  While Boone made sure he was singing exactly what the words read, in Little Richard's version the words were often slurred so far as to sound like "too froo, aw roo."  Boone's record went to #12, Little Richard's to #17.  Whatever the case may have been about the differences, the cover versions were usually more successful.

When Elvis first cut loose with "That's All Right" at Sam Phillips' Sun studio he was "covering" a record by Arthur Big Boy Craddup.  But this was a new kind of "cover."  All of Elvis's Sun releases were covers of previous R&B or Country songs.  But he didn't clean them up.  Rather, he punched them up.  His version of "Blue Moon of Kentucky" was much more energetic than Bill Monroe's original.  Even later at RCA, when he recorded "Lawdy Miss Clawdy," it rivaled the rawness of Lloyd Price's original.  And Elvis's rendition of "Hound Dog" was very different from Big Mama Thornton's original.  Music critic Robert Milburn explained:  "Unlike many white artists, who watered down the gritty edges of the original R&B versions of songs in the '50s, Elvis reshaped them."

The revolution that Elvis Presley led in the music industry was also a product of race.  The United States in the middle 1950's was divided into black and white culture, with the white being by far the dominant group.  The music was the same.  What was referred to as R&B (Rhythm and Blues) was produced almost entirely by black artists, played on black radio stations for black audiences.  Rarely did a white (pop music) station play R&B records.  In some instances, the genre of the record could be assumed by its label, as many labels recorded exclusively R&B.  At one time, major lables even gave different colors to the discs to identify the genre (presumably to make sure a white customer didn't inadvertently pick up a black record).  One reason the cover versions of records did so well was that it enabled the pop stations to play the songs because they were recorded by white artists.  When Dewey Phillips first interviewed Elvis Presley on the air while playing "That's All Right" in 1954, he deliberately asked Elvis which Memphis high school he attended.  He knew when Elvis responded with "Humes"  that all his listeners would then know that Elvis was white (Humes being an all white school).  That was a surprising revelation as he "sounded black."

The final piece that put Elvis on his throne was his physicality.  Not only was he white, he was young and attractive.  Not only was he handsome, but he moved on stage and exuded the sexual energy that had long been associated with R&B.  It was the white parents of the 1950's worst nightmare as teenage girls flocked to the concerts and then to the movie theaters.  While "Rock Around the Clock" had launched rock and roll into public awareness, it was difficult for teenagers to identify with the middle-aged Bill Haley.  But they couldn't resist Elvis.  Elvis Presley, a white man, was singing R&B and country songs in a fashion with more energy and free expression than the originals. .  The flood gates were opened in 1956 and rock and roll had its king.